PropertyValue
?:author
?:datePublished
  • 2014-11-11 (xsd:date)
?:headline
  • Can You Get Chagas Disease from Kissing Bugs? (en)
?:inLanguage
?:itemReviewed
?:mentions
?:reviewBody
  • A group of researchers reported in October 2014 that the Triatomine bug, a reduviid bug living in the United States, can carry a parasite that causes Chagas disease. Examples: Melissa Nolan Garcia, a research associate at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, presented two studies at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. For one study, Garcia and her team collected 40 triatomine bugs in Texas and discovered nearly 75% of the bugs were carrying the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. For the second study, Garcia's team examined 17 blood donors who had symptoms consistent with Chagas disease: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) believes nearly 300,000 people may be infected with the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi in the United States. Garcia believes this number may be higher, however, since many people infected with the disease are asymptomatic and undiagnosed: The CDC has classified Chagas Disease as one of five Neglected Parasitic Infections in the United States. Chagas, as well as cysticercosis, toxocariasis, toxoplasmosis, and trichomoniasis, are considered NPIs in the United States since little attention has been dedicated to their surveillance, prevention, and treatment. A CDC factsheet about NPIs in the United States reads: Triatomine bugs (also called reduviid bugs, kissing bugs, assassin bugs, cone-nosed bugs, and blood suckers) have been found in the Southern United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America: The bugs can transfer Chagas disease to humans, but the CDC notes transmission of the disease is not straightforward: Shortly after Garcia reported her findings, several publications ran sensational headlines claiming Chagas disease was the new AIDS. Although the threat is real, it is unlikely for someone in the United States to be infected by a kissing bug: Chagas Disease can be fatal, but many people infected by Trypanosoma cruzi never develop the disease and remain asymptomatic for life. According to the CDC, only about 30% of infected people will develop debilitating and sometimes life-threatening medical problems over the course of their lives. A November 2015 report on the discovery of kissing bugs in Georgia noted that there had not been a reported case of Chagas in that state since 1855: In late February 2017, the discovery of a Chagas-infected kissing bug in Lubbock, Texas led to renewed interest in risks posed by the parasite, and in July 2017 the warning spread about barber beetles. (en)
?:reviewRating
rdf:type
?:url